Encourages professors not to lose sight of undergraduate courses in that they may inspire students to further learning in the humanities. Undertakes a discussion of "Beowulf" and Camus'"The Plague" to show how literature from other periods and cultures can be used to provoke thought about contemporary, relevant issues. (CAM)

Problems of overspecialization, reclusive objectivity, timidity, deferentiality, and naivete are interrelated and their root cause lies in scholars not having the faintest awareness of the public responsibility of the scholar or how that public responsibility is consonant with individual gain or with the public good. (HOD)

This selected bibliography covers the following categories: general reference works; history, both general and specialized; biographies and autobiographies; human sciences, including sociology and anthropology; politics and government; law; education and language; culture, including art, architecture, music, popular arts, cuisine, and traditions.…

The future of the humanities is discussed in terms of two perspectives on the present state of the humanities characterized by the conflicting views of the scientist stressing the impact of science on society and the contemporary humanist rooted in seventeenth-century values. (JMF)

Recommends that colleges and universities develop humanities courses as one approach to international education. Describes a humanities course with a focus on Africa, Asia, and Latin America which currently is taught at Ball State University. The course emphasizes team teaching, community involvement, and an experiential approach. (DB)

Two recurring themes in nine liberal arts projects are identified: the quest for new constituencies and a new clarification of the meaning of the humanities in the educational process. The role of the NEH in funding, problems in defining the humanities, and interdisciplinary approaches are discussed. (Author/MLW)

In light of the recent revival of the creationism versus evolution issue, the author briefly summarizes both positions, defends evolution on the basis of fossils and rock ages, and refutes six creationist arguments against evolution. For journal availability, see SO 505 260. (AV)

The author reviews research on the origins of life, beginning with Thales (636 B.C.), synthesized by C. Darwin in "The Origin of Species," continued by H. DeVries' mutation theory, and enhanced by the discovery in 1944 of DNA. For journal availability, see SO 505 260. (AV)

Explains the development of standardized coding for digital text, especially for multilingual text, that has culminated in the Unicode standard. Topics include the University of Michigan's Humanities Text Initiative (HTI); a history of character sets; transliteration; non-Roman languages; fonts; and barriers to adoption of the Unicode standard. A…

This report on the Getty Online Searching Project, which studied the end-user searching behavior of 27 humanities scholars over a 2-year period, focuses on previous familiarity with retrieved documents. Topics include document familiarity and relevance; document familiarity and information retrieval; measuring retrieval success; and document…

Presents results of an analysis of 476 Latin American databases in the social sciences and humanities. Variables studied include country of origin, subject, type of database and access, number of records, time span, geographical coverage, and language. Problems of user access and visibility are discussed. (Author/LRW)

Describes a seminar course for underprepared college students which focuses on the study of the hero's quest and solves many of the difficulties inherent in the remedial writing course previously taught. Aims to teach critical thinking, close critical reading, and critical and creative writing as necessary for making the journey of inquiry. (PA)

Describes a methodology for developing bibliometric performance indicators which provide a framework or paradigm for application-oriented research in the field of evaluation quantitative science and technology studies, particularly in the humanities and social sciences. Aims at identifying characteristics of scholarly publications that reflect…

Considers how the university might respond to the electronic text revolution in offering an undergraduate education in the arts and humanities. Discusses how the University of South Australia might provide a program for prospective teachers in the world of texts, and it might offer different ways of reading and writing. (SG)